NEW DELHI: Foreign direct investment from Japan is likely to double in the next seven years from the current level, members of India Japan Business Cooperation Committee (IJBCC) said on Tuesday.
The FDI inflow from the island nation stood at $4.67 billion in FY17.
“Investment from Japan will touch $8 billion (p.a) by 2022 and double by 2025. Japan has been a strong contributor in India’s growth and the trade between trade between India and Japan will grow in a big way,” pointed out Onkar S Kanwar, chairman of IJBCC and CMD of Apollo Tyres, at the Asean India Business and Investment and Expo.
India is also expecting the number of Japanese companies to double in the same time frame. “China has more than 30,000 registered Japanese companies while India has just over 1,300, so there is a lot of scope for Japanese companies to come and ‘Make in India’ for the world,” Kanwar added.
According to Japanese ambassador to India Kenji Hiramatsu, many small and medium Japanese enterprises are getting ready to enter India. He said that India’s image as an investment zone has improved but there is a need for further improvement.“...we need more improvement in infrastructure and taxation structure,” the ambassador said, adding that cooperation in water management and tackling environment management can be largely utilised.
The delegates also informed that few states such as Andhra Pradesh are showing lots of improvement when it comes to giving single window clearance. “Japanese companies don’t want to lose money and time on getting the clearance from authority. They want smooth and safe ecosystem to invest,” a delegate said, adding incidents like 2011 Maruti Suzuki union strike in Haryana seriously impacted Japan’s view on India.
Heads of Japanese corporations also promised that they will play pivotal role in developing three smart cities, building industrial corridors and helping to realise Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream project—Ahmadabad-Mumbai bullet train project, for which, the foundation was laid last year when Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe visited India.